From Chaiwallah to Prime Minister..!

TODAY’S paper had an interesting front page headline, It screamed, “From Newspaper Boy to President,” It was about the Late President Abdul Kalam who sold newspapers in his boyhood and rose to become President of India.
There are many such stories, and our country provides opportunities for such growth; from Chaiwalla to Prime minister, and the present newly elected president, from mud hut to the Rastrapati Bhavan!
But, and here, lies my question, are you still living in your mud hut? Are you still a newspaper vendor, or a chaiwallah? Have you risen from your humble beginnings or there’s money in your pocket but no change in your behaviour? As I watch our Prime Minister, I have reason to believe that to an extent he has risen. He could have easily addressed the joint houses in the US in Hindi, but what a glorious speech in English, showing the rest of the world, how a chaiwallah could not just rise but be as good as the best.
But what about you and me? The city of Mumbai, is full of rags to riches stories. Most came here to earn their fortune, and many did. But have we left our poverty behind?
There are many who own posh cars but act as if they still ride on bullock carts. Watch them on the road. Many who live in fancy apartments but dirty the outsides as if they are still in the slums they left behind.
Many of us, who can now afford to spend an evening in a Five star restaurant but act as if we are still in a tavern or country liquor bar. I have shuddered as I watch some of them shouting at a waiter, conversing loudly, and creating a huge noise, when those around have paid to come here for peace and quiet.
What they are actually trying to say is, “Look I am no more a newspaper boy! I don’t live in a mud hut anymore!” But the more they show off, the more they reveal they are still in the same place they started from.
When you make money, or get educated, move not just your body to better surroundings but your mind also. Your quietness will reveal your greatness. Your stillness, your personality.
Our change has to come from within. Money can’t do it. Position won’t help, but a realization will. From newspaper boy to the President of India, and as we watched him as President, what a great man he was, and what a message for all of us. Let us, rise up into greatness..!
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